What is your Brewery name and where did it come from?
The Old Dairy Brewery. We’re in an old dairy building, and still have cows next door.
What is your brewery capacity?
The brew length is 5 barrels, though we usually squeeze out 5 ¼.
What is different about your brewery?
We took our name from the building we’re based in.
How long have you been brewing for?
I’ve been home brewing for over 20 years, but I started turning professional about five years ago.
How did you get into brewing?
I got a scholarship to study brewing and distilling at Heriot-Watt.
What beers do you brew regularly?
- Red Top (bitter, 3.8% ABV)
Copper Top (best bitter 4.1% ABV)
Gold Top (golden ale 4.3% ABV)
Silver Top (stout 4.5% ABV)
Blue Top (IPA 4.8% ABV)
What special/seasonal beers do you brew?
- Soft Top (dark mild 3.5% ABV)
Sun Top (pale ale 3.6% ABV)
Spring Top (4.0% ABV Kentish ale)
AK 1911 (historic bitter 4.0% ABV)
Wild Hop (4.0% ABV, made with a wild hop now grown by a local farmer)
Tsar Top (imperial Russian stout 10% ABV)
Hop Top (double IPA 9% ABV)
Snow Top (winter warmer 6% ABV)
Czech Mate (pilsner 5% ABV)
Where do you think the future of brewing lies?
The only constant is change
Do you bottle/keg/cask your beer?
Bottle and cask
What is you proudest moment in brewing?
Probably my first all grain home brew. Totally opaque but I’d made beer from raw materials and it tasted great.
Do you have any brewing regrets?
I regret it every time I manage to bang my head on something when brewing.
What is your brewing ambition?
Winning Champion Beer of Britain and Brewer of the Year in the same year 😉
What was last beer you drank?
Old Dairy Brewery Spring Top
What is your favourite hop and why?
The Farnham Whitebine, an ancestor of the Goldings. It’s not actually grown in Farnham anymore but I’ve just written an article about it for the Brewery History Society so I’ve got a bit of an obsession with this hop.
What is your favourite beer/food combo?
Beer and cheese and onion crisps
Do you have a Brewing hero/inspiration?
Horace Brown, a great brewing scientist.
If you could brew one collaboration beer with someone who would it be with and what would it be?
Something with my mates Rob and Simon from Heriot Watt would be fun. Not sure what we’d make though.
Which beer do you wish you had brewed?
Timothy Taylor Landlord
How do you spend your time when you aren’t brewing?
Getting stuck on the M25 and being asleep. Though my hobbies include hill walking, rock climbing and Thai boxing. And drinking obviously.
If you could have one superhero superpower what would it be?
If I had Spiderman’s super powers my climbing grade would certainly improve.
Do you have a website/twitter/blog?
You can buy Old Dairy beers from Beermerchants.com
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Like the meet the brewer articles and interesting to read something about this brewery, I first came across the old dairy at Reading beer festival last year and loved their beers from the start, didn’t realise that they bottled – I think I will go look for some now 😀
I’ve tried a couple of the beers. Both top quality. Looking forward to supping more.